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another quick ebay trawl and a few hundred later and i had myself a bar and plate intercooler on the way from sydney and then i had to find some alloy and a silicone to make my intercooler piping from, i wanted to do as much welding as possible and and do all my bends out of alloy.

instead of mandrel bends i desided on tight donuts for all the practice,

welded some 90* with straights with a bead on the end onto the cooler to join my silicone straights.

and the same for my turbo, i have had dramas on my silvia where the silicone becomes brittle being so close to the manifold and splits, just wanted to avoid that happening again!!!

intercooler mounted and first side of the cooler piping done, minus hose clamps

as im shore you can gues this little part took a bit of time, i actually cut as much as i could off the throtle because every CM counts haha but im really chuffed with how it looks and hopefully it will work well.

i used a 4x6x9" K&N pod filter autobarn special, cooler works even at idle a hand on each side and you can really feel how much heat is washed off over the core, anyhoooow enough for another night.

when i started looking for gauges i wanted something that had also had warning lights or buzzers , not because im an idiot but it is much easier to see a flashing red light when you are on full boost in some spirited steering than it is to see a needle moving 1cm around a gauge that is 2" round! i ended up finding a websight for a company called speed hut gauges in the US and Ayyzzzzz who have a series called revolution, they are all electronic gauges with "military grade transducer senders" wank wank, and duel stepper motor pointers and have built in settable high / low warning LED's with an output on the back for an aditional light/buzzer! another cool thing is you can pick from there preset faces plates/numbers/pointers/backlights e.t.c or you can customise your order to include logoes or pictures or change any of the above, i think they look good so i went with it, cant be as bad as autometer where you are just paying for a name i have seen them a long way from accurate, and as for something like VDO which i have found to be great but very plain, this was what i hope to be a happy medium.

remember this will be wraped or fiberglassed and painted.

the gauges are from left to right, fuel level, water temp, oil pressure, verticaly from top to bottom charge light "i think" then engine warning and handbrake, back across to speedo (0-200kmh with the toyota logo on it ) usual factory indicators and high beam, then tacho (0-10K with progressive shit lights up the right side and the TRD logo on it ) then a bigger shift light up to the right, and on to the all important BOOSTS

i think i will order more for the centre console as i now need trans temp and could always use volts and or engine oil temp.

quick one of them at night with the blue back light, steering wheel is in the way but you get the idea.

wating on a trans cooler atm but will post up the fitting of that when i get to it

also i have a stock computer for now but i moved the diagnostics plug, igniter and relays all in under the dash so when i was changing the loom i made the joins for the injecters and coils right at the computer instead of out on the engine so when i go to an aftermarket computer i can easly go sequential for both was thinking a platnem sport 2000 or a vipec v88.

As for the diff workshop next to us was wrecking a VP wagon so i took the BW78 and all thr handbrake setup and the tailshaft still need to have it shortened, LSD rebuilt and tightened, billet axles with 4 stud conversion, rebuild calipers, 4.11:1 gears or something higher than 3.08:1, have a tailshaft made, bla bla bla you get the point, M&A wanted $3700! diff docter wanted $3500 and sothern diffs $2700 and he was defenatly the easiest to talk to and actualy went through it with me not just blow me off (no homo) so i think he will get my money (remember this when i have a rant later!)

work got a bit slow this arvo so i desided to "practice" my welding in a useful way and make myself a recovery system for the radiator overflow out of some left over pipe from my intercooler gear and some 3mm sheet i had and a billet cap from a workshop close by (mr jones the homo)

turned up the fitting on the base myself and will have to make some threded sections to weld on tomorrow, i marked where they had to go when i got gome today so should be easy!

shot from the top

should look the goods when its all polished up

after having a bit of a look tonight at what i can do for my rocker cover breathers i think i will do some -8 fittings towards the back of the engine and make a catch can from 2.5" pipe roughly the hight of the radiator at the front of the engine

i have started with my 2.5" offcut of intercooler pipe i have left over and ran the drop saw through it a few times i think i will do one more cut/baffle before i weld it all up.

i will be making the baffles horizontal in the vertical tube, just an example they go all the way to the other side of the pipe and one neat well around the outside will hold it in place,

and i also started on the rocker covers removing the old breather off the edge of the cover and turning up a small peace of alloy to weld in its place,

the idea is to make it a bit higher than the cover weld it in and grind it back so you can never tell it was even there that is the idea anyway ill see how i go! i managed to get my hands on an old datto 200b wagon that has been taking my time to get it running as a daily "more work than i expected" but thats just an excuse so i got the old breather welded up and ground back and the new -8 fittings welded on.

Soooo... i looked into all glass and getting an interior done and paint and desided it was all to hard and gave up... jks, jks, but i did buy a mad RA28! and now im going to put everything into that!

cought a bus to melbourne and had a look, and it had no big oil leaks and factory A/C! (will be selling engine, gearbox and A/C) drove well gearbox didnt crunch and had no bumps squeaks or rattles to worry about (owner was an elderly lady, PERFECT! haha) good tyres what more can i say! it has a few small rust bubbels but all in all it is in very good condition!

drove the car all the way back from melbourn to canberra with no hickups! and it was very good on fuel, didnt overheat or use oil! but when i got back to canberra the next day i noticed a small oil stain on the driveway , soon as i stuck my head under her (sits like a 4x4 atm) i could see the weep hole in the bellhousing was dripping so could only be one thing REAR MAIN haha $7 part and a few hours later after work that day and she was all fixed! with thanks to seb for helping with the unbelivably heavy gearbag.

and as it is with everything i buy SOMETHING has to go wrong! got a rego inspection done (passed with flying colours) all good! then i go to belconnen shopfront and wate an hour like you always have to do (expected this) then the girl behind the counter tells me the VIN number for the car dosent match the plates! i replyed with the car is pre VIN it has a CHASSIS NUMBER and she basicaly told me to bad, so sad! numbers dont match either way,

so after trying to find the number she wanted me to find on the car anywhere (without any luck, even tho i could find the chassis number in 3 different places on the car) i desided to make a few phone calls, after spending more than 2 hours on the phone explaning my situation to about a million and eight people they finally desided i needed an ID. check at DICKSON!!!

so i made my booking (today and had the check) old mate at rego gave me a wrap on the car and told me how cool and well mantained it was! and the reason i had all the trouble in the first place was because some numpty at VIC roads forgot or didnt put in the chassis number in the first place so they had to give it a number and thats where the number noone could find came from, so i can only hope they are that happy when i go back with the 1jz in it haha i dont like my chances tho.

tomorrow i will try going back to canberra connect with my mountain of paperwork with ten thousand stamps and sigantures and hopefully all will be well and i can order my plates and start swapping all the gear over into the RA28 (i mean drive it around as a stock car, lol yes the car is being engineered eventualy).

AND AFTER ALL THAT I GOT REGO!! haha winning stupid charge light flashing on and off now so guess ill have to fix that... or start my engine swap sooner have to wait 4-6 weeks for my plates to be made and the temp plates i was given ended in 66G so i got i big speal about how god lovers will think its like 666 and i dont have to take them if i dont want :S haha, was a mission but i got there in the end!

Thanks crack, and Mat... Fuck you haha, I should mention when doing the rear main and pulling the gearbox out I snapped the centre console plastics (everything is so brittle) so it has a black/grey centre console in it now

few new bits and pieces to report, always to long between jumping on here.

trans cooler, yet to mount.

4 runner non ABS 1" master next to the factory 7/8 stock unit

mounted but needs lines made, will do all brake lines when i get my diff back (braded parts also)

ordered seats

i asked about putting the battery and fuel system in the spair wheel well in the boot, BUT because it is open to the cab (no rear firewall/seat and parcel shelf) i would have to plate over the top and vent it to atmos under the car e.t.c, so no fuel vapor can make it into the cab.

dropped my diffs off to craig at southern diffs today with my list of needs and wants, along with some money to get the ball rolling haha(THIS PART WAS A FUCKING MISTAKE!!!) should be done within a few weeks and he wants the car with the engine in it :S so if im going to put the 1j in the 28 i will have a lot of work ahead in the next few weeks! need to do a fuel system e.t.c so, yeah...

southern diffs called to say i could come and inspect his work and when i went in there was still an invoice from M & A stuck on the housing! didnt get to see his price tho... but i probably didnt want but lol.

still havent started on the seat rails yet but a few other parts have shown up like the coils and sleves, i eneded up ordering from otomoto a 51mm sleve kit with 7kg mm springs the only problem was he didnt have spacers and top hats to match the 51mm springs only like 55mm or something so i got them anyway and just have a mate turn them down on his laith

and last but not least i "fixed" my fuel gauge that seemed to be very intermittent.

and buy fix i mean make work once then get stranded halfway up the parkway on a hill because i ran out of fuel... on my lunchbrake... on a very busy day... when the boss was having a shit day... need i say any more? figured out that the 7volt reg for the dash was fucked! so all the gauges where reading high and yeah...

iv had a shithouse week! not to have a winge, but im gonna! as i was leaving work to go to the doc's because i need to have a knee surgery this wednesday (no working on cars for a possible 6 weeks!) walked outside to THIS at work!

Some D!*k jockey reversed into the RA28!!!
Then on the way back form the hospital trying to get into the car my phone fell out of my pocket and smashed the screen out of it, lol

anyhoooo... so now im looking for a fiberglass chin spoiler

and in some better news my order of, front and rear shocks, rear springs and some gland nuts for the front xt130 front shock tubes
showed up on friday to capital steering and suspension so i used my lunchbrake to get them today

part numbers for all to see!

KMFL04 gemini low rear springs

i will have to get some pictures of the shocks (shocks are shocks nothing looks very different) i got some,

*KONI MR2 SW20 rear adjustable shocks to use in the front tubes *part NO- 8641 1221SPORT (yes i understand i will have to shorten the shock tubes to hold it captive but thats ok!

*KONI HZ rear adjustable shocks for the rear with the gemmi springs and custom mounts on a custom diff so ill make it work haha

so ill see how it all goes once i can walk and work on cars again

(this all happened a while ago and im just pulling the good bits from my other thread)

I put my name down for a set of cheep steelies to test offsets, can always sell them on if I don't like them sizes are 15x8 0 offset and 15x10 0 offset

It's so annoying to be so close to my car all day and not be able to even work on it my knee is the size of a rockmelon and keeping me from doing anything!

this is a bad photo but you can kinda see the swelling I had to change my compression bandage

giving the card a workout while im stuck on the couch i even started wrighting a list of things i have bought so i would remember if they had shown up lol

bought myself some,
*Gauges for the centre console (in front of the shifter, below sterio) trans temp and an exhaust gas temp again from speedhut (CUSTOM gauges, so far would recomend to EVERYONE! havent had a drama yet fingers crossed and quick shipping)

*V band 3" for my dump pipe (turnes out the nut they give you with them is truly a one use item it took all the thread off the clamp when i untightened it)
*Silicone hose (from JNT few bits and peaces like BOV still need to plumb up)

i will get the dump done in ceramic coating but as for the wrap i have been told condensation build up in the wrap with the hot cold cycles and washing engine all that causes rust BADLY and eats through the mettle fast! but this is just what i have been told...

Picked up my new diff and started pulling everything out of the RA28 in preparation for the 1JZ!

I was going to send the 23 with the new diff and 1j to have tailshaft and handbrake cables made but now I have dicided to throw it into the 28 and have it done properly incase shock mounts and tailshaft leingths where different, because that would suck!

So got a bit done yesterday, so basically removed everything from the 28!

Managed to get it out myself was going to going to get a hand from Seb in the arvo but I'm inpatient!

Everything out to make way for the 1JZ powerhouse and the rack and pinion!
All 3 of my toys together, the engine on the hoist is the 1J sorry about the bad picks I dropped my phone the other day and hasn't been the same lol

fuck 1j's iv got a hova leeka!

Engine almost ready to go into its new home, just want to paint the x member and put few new bushes in the under the car 2! Ended the night on a low when I fell down the stairs in the shed lucky I had seb over because I was in a lot of pain with my knee it sorta just gave way under me so I'm really hoping I haven't RE-damaged the joint! FFS!!!!!

lots of playing with the wire wheel on my drill and black paint today got all the x member and lower controle arms taken back and painted, new boots and tie rods for my rack, all installed in the car.

ordered some nolathane traling arm bushes, inner LCA's bushes and radius rod bushes fiured might just replace everything while its all apart (do it once do it right) because the 35yr old bushes probably wont apreciate 300hp!

and now the engine is in its new home hopefully for a while this time! at least untill paint or it lets go no such thing as overboost right? and if you have to move from side to side on the car its good to have 2 cans on the go for motivation (untill you have a few lol)

next ill have a look at fuel hard lines before i put the diff back in and send it for tailshaft and handbrake cables, then to work so i can get the boys next door (ACT brakes) to make me some hardlines and make all new braded lines for me.

i borrowed a DIN75L battery form work to see if i could fit it in the spair wheel compartment in the boot but didnt have a lot of luck as it was to tall (even being a euro battery with sunken terminals) so might look into an oddesy battery or something like that (smaller) then start work on a new fuel system for the 28 as the 23 system i made is now no longer good to me keep you all posted.

Awesome read. Subscribed for updates. That RA28 was a find...i would love to do one one day. This maybe a stupid question, but with regards to doing the coilovers on a 70s car, how do you know which parts to buy for it? Generally there is no kit for this type of thing.

started with modifying the XT130 strut tubes to accommodate koni adjustable SW20 MR2 shocks (which ment shortening the casings by 42.5mm) then welding an OTOMOTO threaded sleeve on from one of their 7kg coilover kits that I percused while I was stuck on the couch with a bung knee!

Also replacing inner lower control arm bushes, trailing arm bushes and radius rod bushes all on the components ready to be installed tomorrow, those trailing arm bushes took a lot to press out it was maxing out our press I was using 2 arms and swinging off it so much for OH&S.

Starting to come together and I'm getting exited I can't wate to drive the thing! It's been a long while in the process, also took my disks to act brakes today to be skimmed before I put them back together and found out they have to be on the hub for machining so ill have to drop the hubs in tomorrow, keep you posted.

Few more pictures of the progress, its back on the ground now with engine and box in along with new diff, everything is freshly painted and new bushes all round!

Thew some of sebs B45's on the car today, pictures speak a thousand words 8z on the front with o offset and 8z on the rear same but with a 30mm spacer so should be sitting roughly 5mm more poke than what my steelies will coming together well and my goal is to be ad DUBVEGAS!

chin spoiler showed up also and just needs some paint now,

brake shop has been hard at work today running lines in the engine bay on the diff and all the braided bits between!

Looks like its coming along well anyway, first thing tomorrow getting bleed then I will have brakes back and hopefully they will be better than the original setup! Haha shouldn't have any dramas with that tho!

Wheels also showed up so I thought we would JUST THROW some rubber on them right? Wrong! So many bloody sizes and with having 2" width difference from front to rear trying to get tyres with a rolling diameter even close to each other was annoying because the tyres I would need either didn't exist or where discontinued, couldn't get anything wide in a small sidewall like a 255/40r15 e.t.c. so I opted for

Front 195/60r15
Rear 225/50r15

Think that should be alright but ill see whow it goes when the 225s show up hopefully tomorrow here is the front tho.

Nice little bit of poke and stretch! (not for everyone but i think if its done right looks mint!

I LOVE THE B45s!!! i keep harassing seb for them like every time i see him! never wasnt to sell them tho

Onto some bad news tho I ended up getting skrewed $1657 over what I was quoted for my diff NOT INCLUDING TAILSHAFT THAT WAS IN THE QUOTE! because of things like ( longer studs, different gears, LSD, machining axles, machinging disks, list goes on) all the things we talked about before the work was started and then afterwards it was all like "oh no you must have misunderstood, ypu wanted all those extras after the fact"... So I'm basicallyout of money now and the budget is shot! Life will go on...

He didn't really seem like the kind of guy I would like to owe money to especially when he had my address and work address and phone number lol.

Also mounted my trans cooler to my intercooler

Today I put it back on stands and welded the whiteline swaybar mounts onto the diff instead of using the stupid "U" bolts that fouled on everything! So now I can just nut and bolt it to the mounts like a normal car

Welding upside down SUCKS not real happy with ny welds but CBF grinding and doing it again they Arnt that bad

fucking love this photo

wheels on!

New wheels with tread and looking sic! Very happy with them.

Also pulled my tank out so I could oversize my fuel pickup and return lines

I stripped the fuel tank ready for new lines and a fresh lick of paint, there where so many layers of paint in some places it would just burn to the wire wheel and spread the paint around but I got there in the end.

welding in new lines

then paintzzz

front coming back together

All the coolers and pipes are now in even with a BOV to many people's hate I can't wate to drive the stupid thing, have been trying to catch up on a months worth of work after being off with the knee so ill start on the fuel system asap and fiberglasing my gauge pannel and I think I have desided on side pipes (for track use only of course )

Christmas, new years and summernats have put a good stop on my build but now I'm aiming for powercruse which is at the end of Feb I will have to get my skates on!

Tailshaft showed up yesterday.

Started on my "rear firewall" because a fuel tank in a 23 is ok as a firewall but air isn't in the 28 lol anyway I have started plating up my spair wheel well so it is isolated from the cabin and vented to atmos but still removable (not welded in) so lots of nut serts and slaz!

And this little man is taking up some of my time! But that's ok because he is the new member of my little family

funny because he hates cars but he has been sleeping in my car while i have been working on it every night seriosly makes me day!!!

Ran out of nut serts so I started on my exhaust yesterday ill try finish it tomorrow.

just tacked atm

Ill start on the hangers and EGT sender bung then weld it together properly tomorrow, then I might send the dump pipe away for coating and wrap the rest, pur up more pictures when its done try role guards tomorrow also.

I started mounting fuel pumps and filters (the empty juice bottle is to give you an idea of where the surge tank will sit) hopefully I will get to make a start on that in the next few days.

And I painted my exhaust (except the dump pipe)

The dump will be getting ceramic coated and I also made a solid mount for it last night to a bellhousing bolt to try and reduce flex and sag in my Egay manifold (THIS DIDNT WORK! SHIT SAGED!!!) but the mad courier that was supposed to pick it up today didn't show up douche...

Then filled in and sickerflexed up ready for a lick of paint!
And just one to show the battery and MASIVE surge tank! Lol probably a but big but I have room to spair now

I am a bit worried about the trans cooler out the front but I couldn't really find anywhere to put it with decent airflow and going under the car with a fan isn't really an option because of ground clearance because I want to slam it

Had another go at the boot again after work today and welded up my massive surge tank (presure tested, lucky because it did have a small hole), mounted pumps and ran lines

Might make a start on the engine bay side tomorrow, but there could be a bloke coming over to look at the shell of my TA23 that is for sale so I might have to be home to show him that.

My dump pipe showed up today! Not bad considering I sent it on Friday arvo and it made it back first thing this morning

After I fitted it up I decided to take a picture of my solid mount to the bellhousin and you can see it if you have your young on the right side of your mouth and tilt your head left, and it is a bit of a prick to do up and undo (best picture I could get, above the trans lines) rest of the newly painted exhaust is also now installed.

Sneaky picture of the engine bay as it sits tonight.

Hope everyone is likeing the updates! I am trying to put up as many pictures as possible but I always forget to take them in the first place!

i also got myself a nice set of semi slicks for free WINNING!

and i slapped the KE70 auto brake peddal in the other night also and that seems to work really well (car was manuel)

slowly getting to how it sits today (except defected im my garage with a different engine because i blew the first one up!!

its pritty good hey! i can let my lift pump make noise for ages (i know its not good for it) without worrying because i could do a trip to sydney and back on the surge alone!

Chin spoiler painted and mounted

Finished up the exhaust with a nice little dump (hopefully also create a final little extra back pressure to make that straight through muffler at the back work a little )

Then I stripped all the interior and wiring out of the car! BECAUSE RACE CAR!!

Just joking i am re-wiring the while car (why not? Everything elce in the car is new and this is the cheapest part of the build because this part is actually my trade )

Tonight I started running battery cable in the 28 and I also rebuilt the heater box and blower motor housing by first stripping them completely apart and wiping all the dust out of everywhere then painstakingly remove all the old sealing foam from all the components (turns to dust when your touch it and leaves a sticky mess of glue behind ) cleaning everything up and replacing the foam with new not so crumbly stuff will try take photos of this when I remember.

I did have it at work for afew weeks but its home now getting wiring done and making me stay up late and get up early! I should just take the week off but I left it 2 late now. Probably about a third of the way through wiring at the moment and sent my valve body to mv in Adelaide to be shift kitted as he didn't have any stock to send me

So as a few of you would know it made it to the. CCG beer o'clock the other night for a sneeky peek but it is basically all back together now and I'm in Sydney with the car ready for powercruise in the morning, threw her in the dyno and skrewed in some more boost and its now making about 185rwkw's with no lock up and very safe amounts of fuel and what not, so plenty of potential for much more power but she is farqn fast as she is!

Car went well at powercruise all things considered, had a few teething issues as was expected!
Many skids where to be had and I did have a fair bit of fun!

On to the bad, tailshaft tried to make its way into my cab through the floor, luckily for me it didn't make it! When I put the diff in the car I could see that it was wrong (pinion was far to close to the passenger side of the tunnel) and buy the time I put the tailshaft in it was obvious it wasn't right but I still wanted/hoped it would work! So when it started hitting I put some thinner rims on and adjusted the panhard over about an inch and didn't have any more dramas with the tailshaft but as for drivability with the diff so far over and thin wheels every time you stood on it the ass would try to overtake the front from the drivers side

Diff is now all pulled out and back to meet its maker! Haha, he was surprisingly good about it all and he measured the pinion was about 22mm out! And as you cant just simply move it over a new diff has to be fabricated and at least one new axle because it will now be to short I really want to get the car back together for shannons wheels expo this weekend but I don't like my chances so I will be pushing for it to be done before DUBVEGAS!

In other exciting news I bought myself a fuel cut defender and pumped up the boosts a little more
Now making over 200kw on a conservative dyno so will be interesting to see how much she makes on a more accurate dyno, really dosent matter how much it makes anyway the car is a heap of fun to drive and just wants to spin the 225 tyres everywhere!